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As Singapore's top trading partner in 2003, Malaysia is a
significant market for the Singaporean business community.
A business delegation from Singapore is now in Malaysia to
learn more about the Malaysian market.
RSI's Yvonne Gomez who is accompanying the delegation to
Malaysia and files this report.
YG: I'm here in Kuala Lumpur with the business mission organized
by International Enterprise Singapore and the Singapore Business
Federation. 70 senior executives from 50 Singapore companies
are here to find out more about the Malaysian market, and
how Singapore companies can strengthen their business presence
here. This afternoon, the delegation met with Singapore's
Minister for Trade and Industry, Bgd Gen George Yeo, and his
Malaysian counterpart, Datuk Sri Rafidah Aziz, in a joint
dialogue session. Mr. Yeo expressed his pleasure at such an
overwhelming response from the Singaporean business community.
BG Yeo: And I was very pleasantly surprised that the business
delegation which we organized to coincide with this meeting
met with such an overwhelming response. 70 delegation covering
a whole range of sectors, showing a keen interest in a whole
range of sectors in the Malaysian economy. They are here in
Kuala Lumpur, they will visit other Malaysian states to see
if new opportunities can open up because of the political
change there.
YG: Malaysia's Trade Minister, Rafidah Aziz told the delegation
that both she and Mr Yeo had earlier discussed the idea of
a Malaysia-Singapore Business Council, which would be independent
of any chambers of commerce or association, and developed
by business people themselves. Mr Yeo added that both Malaysia
and Singapore had a role to play in giving ASEAN a push, but
the work had to be done by business leaders.
BG Yeo: We talked about the challenges posed by China and
India with this globalized economy and how we should respond
to these new business opportunities that are now opened to
us. In all of this, there is a lot of opportunity for people
to work together and combine our strengths. And if we are
the same organization, we understand each other very well
and whatever it is, we have similar large value systems. And
that is a great asset to any combined operation.
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